Topic: Islamic State

I’m pleased to see the Obama administration make an effort to revamp and expand the Center for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications as digital propaganda becomes more potent [“Hostage’s parents launch social-media bid to free son held in Syria,” Nation & World, Feb. 5]. However, I’m disappointed at the lack of initiative to do so…

Horrific, criminal, vicious, inhuman, gruesome, savage: Yes, the immolation death of Lt. Muath Al-Kaseasbeh is all of this [“Group’s immolation killing of pilot outrages Middle East,” Nation & World, Feb. 4]. But the agony endured by this Jordanian pilot was short compared to that of Afghan taxi driver Dilawar who was killed in…

Although Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew are taking steps to ending the schism between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, these efforts are hard to notice when there is a terrorist group, the Islamic State, persecuting and murdering Christians in Syria and Iraq [“Pope, patriarch demand end to IS attacks,” Nation &…

A recent editorial stated the need to debate further military action in the Middle East [“Middle East flareup requires diplomacy, humility,” Opinion, Sept. 18]. I agree. The result of the debate should be the refusal by the U.S. House to support such action. The U.S. cannot win a war in the Middle East because war there…

If Wednesday’s headline “Embattled Kurds are key in fight against Islamic State” [Nation & World, Oct. 7] is correct then U.S. efforts to “degrade and ultimately destroy” the Islamic State are doomed to failure. The Kurds are not the key, Sunni Arabs are. The Islamic State exists because Sunnis in Eastern Syria and Western…

U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Seattle, is to be commended for his wise, albeit lonely, vote against $500 million in funding for training rebels to fight the Islamic State [“The messy campaign against the Islamic State,” Opinion, Sept. 19]. I urge him to also vote against any authorization for war, and ask Sens. Murray…

The letter writer encouraging the U.S. to stay out of the Middle East conflict [“Other countries are smart to not become involved,” Northwest Voices, Sept. 18] claims that other countries such as Japan and China, which are neither militarily nor politically involved in the Middle East conflict, are instead busy “educating their youths.” I beg…

Do you hear the countries of Japan, India and China’s mentioned in all this talk about the Middle East, when it comes to eradicating the world of the Islamic State [“Islamic State group issues new curriculum in Iraq,” Nation & World, Sept. 15]? While our money and time is spent on this unattainable goal, they’re…

Welcome to The Seattle Times' online letters to the editor, a sampling of readers' opinions. Join the conversation by commenting on these letters or send your own letter of up to 200 words letters@seattletimes.com.